Agenda - 02-29-1996 - Laserfiche WebLink

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State standards recommend that school districts purchase approximately 20 acres for elementary schools and 35 acres for middle schools. An elementary school only needs 8-9 acres for the actual school building and infrastructure. This leaves 11-12 acres for a school/park. Building a park on school property saves the tax payers money since purchased park land is not required. The school systems typically do not spend a lot of money on site amenities around school campuses for community recreational programs. Many of the existing schools were built at the center of the property site with entrance roads and parking areas accessible only to the main building. Had these schools been designed with community use in mind, the buildings could be located to the side or rear of the property, leaving a large portion of the land for park development. The entrance roads and parking areas could be designed to access both the school and park facilities. Gymnasiums could be designed to provide outside access for restroom facilities for potential park patrons. Building schools and parks together is a win/win situation for everyone. • Joint Operation - By combining new and existing schools with park facilities, the surrounding neighborhoods benefit. A school campus typically defines a community. Citizens identify with the campus as being a part of their neighborhood and a convenient place for indoor and outdoor recreational activities. Joint facility planning enables both the schools and the recreation departments to ensure, for example, that gyms are of adequate size for use by both the schools and the recreation departments. Other design features can then be included which will create cost-effective operation of the facilities by both parties. • The School/Park concept is not unique. Wake County developed a plan in the early 1980s, most recently adopted a School/Park Master Plan in 1993, and presently has eleven School/Park sites. Wake serves as a model throughout the State of N.C. The Recreation and Parks Director for Wake County made a presentation to the Recreation and Park Work Group on September 21, 1995, explaining the development of the Wake County School/Park Master Plan. He discussed the process of forming a Coordinated Facility Planning Committee and establishment of a Maintenance and Management Policy. A sample agreement is included as Appendix 5 and serves as a model that could be considered. Section Recommendation It is recommended that all new school sites be planned to include park facilities and that existing school sites be improved with recreation and park amenities where it is mutually beneficial to the school system and governmental jurisdiction(s) to do so. Page 10